For the first time in 20 years, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Board of Governors has formally found that Iran isn’t complying with its nuclear obligations.
The UN nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors approved a resolution declaring that Iran is not complying with its commitment to international nuclear safeguards.
The resolution passed with 19 votes in favour, three against and 11 abstentions. Russia, China and Burkina Faso opposed it, 11 abstained and two did not vote.
It’s a decision that could lead to further tensions and set in motion an effort to restore UN sanctions on Tehran later this year.
A key issue cited is Iran’s failure to provide the IAEA with credible explanations of how uranium traces detected at undeclared sites in Iran came to be there, despite the agency having investigated the issue for years.
According to the draft resolution, Iran’s “many failures” to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding “undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran … constitutes non-compliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement.”
Under those obligations, which are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is legally bound to declare all nuclear material and activities and allow IAEA inspectors to verify that none of it is being diverted from peaceful uses.
The draft resolution also finds that the IAEA’s “inability … to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful” gives rise to questions that are within the competence of the United Nations Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.
The draft resolution made a direct reference to the US-Iran talks, stressing its support for a diplomatic solution to the problems posed by the Iranian nuclear program, “including the talks between the United States and Iran, leading to an agreement that addresses all international concerns related to Iran’s nuclear activities, encouraging all parties to constructively engage in diplomacy.”
The resolution follows the IAEA’s so-called “comprehensive report” that was circulated among member states last weekend. In the report, the UN nuclear watchdog said that Iran’s cooperation with the agency has “been less than satisfactory” when it comes to uranium traces discovered by agency inspectors at several locations in Iran.
The IAEA vote also comes as Oman’s Foreign Minister, Badr Albusaidi announced that the United States and Iran will hold a sixth round of talks over Tehran’s advancing nuclear programme on Sunday.
Iran To Establish New Uranium Enrichment Facility In Retaliation
In response, Iran‘s Foreign Ministry and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced in a joint statement that the country will build a new uranium enrichment facility “in a secure location”, adding that “other measures … will be announced later.”
In a separate statement posted on X, the AEOI also announced that it will replace the first-generation centrifuges at the Fordo nuclear site with “advanced sixth-generation” centrifuges, signalling that it will continue its nuclear enrichment. “The implication of this is that our production of enriched materials will significantly increase,” Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said.
Iran has two underground sites at Fordo and Natanz and has been building tunnels in the mountains near Natanz since suspected Israeli sabotage attacks targeted that facility.
Iran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, who campaigned on reaching out to the West, struck a harder line after the IAEA vote.
“I don’t know how to cooperate with the outside world to stop them from doing evil acts and let the people live independently in this country. We will continue down our own path; we will have enrichment.”
Masoud Pezeshkian
Iran’s Press TV also quoted the foreign ministry as saying that the board resolution “has no technical and legal basis.”
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